It is well known that some of the members belonging to the genus Pseudomonas possess the ability to produce cholesterol esterase, other members possess the ability to produce lipase, and that furthermore some members possess the ability to produce both types of enzymes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,494 a lipase derived from Pseudomonas alcaligenes, able to become activated by bile salts, and having cholesterol esterase activity is described.
In a study by Smirnov et. al. [Smirnov, V. V.; Kornyushenko, O. N.; Bioko, O. I.; Kolesova, E. A.; Govseeva, N. N.; Endt, V. P.; and Kiprianova, E. A.; Mikrobiologicheskii Zhurnal (Kiev); 42 (5), 1980, 566-570], a total of 591 strains of 25 species of bacteria belonging to the genus Pseudomonas were studied for their ability to synthesize extracellular cholesterol esterase. Only individual strains of Ps. aeruginosa, Ps. pseudoacaligenes, Ps. fluorescens, Ps. putida, and Ps. maltophilia (3.4% of the studied cultures) had cholesterol esterase activity. Lipolytic activity was found in Ps. aureofaciens (in 100% of the studied strains), Ps. cepacia (in 75%), Ps. maltophilia (in 60%), Ps. fluorescens (in 13.3%), and Ps. aeruginosa (in 60%).
From this study it is noticed that none of the Ps. fragi cultures examined were able to produce cholesterol esterases.